Former Frank Zappa bassist imprisoned, again, for child molestation

A founding member of the band Little Feat who also played bass for Frank Zappa will serve 25 years for molesting a child younger than 14 over an extended period, the Tarrant County district attorney's office said.

FORT WORTH — A founding member of the band Little Feat who also played bass for Frank Zappa will serve 25 years for molesting a child younger than 14 over an extended period, the Tarrant County district attorney's office said.

Roy Ralph Estrada, who performed with Zappa's The Mothers of Invention, abused the female family member in Tarrant County after he was released from a California prison for another child abuse case.

Estrada, 68, is being temporarily housed at the J. Middleton prison unit near Abilene. He pleaded guilty in January to a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

"The victim's family was unaware that he was a convicted sex offender,” Melody McDonald, spokeswoman for the Tarrant district attorney's office, said in an email.

"Estrada was sentenced to 25 years in a plea bargain agreement and is not eligible for parole. He will be 93 years old before he is released from prison."